Category Archives: Blog

After Steve Wright’s passing in February, I didn’t expect to be writing a tribute to another name from music who has left us, long before their time, so soon. Sadly, we lost Paul Spencer, a.k.a Dario G this week. You’ll likely know him best for his late 90s dance hits Carnaval de Paris and Sunchyme. I was alwaysContinueContinue reading “Sunchyme: My connection to Paul Spencer’s 1997 dance anthem”

Are you waking with the feeling of a missed opportunity? If so, perhaps you also watched the entirety of the Eurovision 2024 last night. For years I’ve been tuning in and I can’t really explain why. The 2020 Will Ferrell / Rachel McAdams film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga went some way to capturingContinueContinue reading “From nul points to new hopes”

This week saw the annual You Are The Media flagship event, Creator Day, a week of occasions in Poole, centred around a one-day conference with a difference, hosted by Mark Masters at the Lighthouse. I was very honoured to be asked to present one of the ‘village vignette’ 5 minute segments (although I did overrunContinueContinue reading “YATM Creator Day 2024 talk”

I woke up a little earlier than usual yesterday, so decided to go and join the queue for Record Store Day at Square Records in Wimborne.  I used to do this every year, with my earliest arrival time having been pre 4am. In recent years I’ve taken my chances, heading over a few hours afterContinueContinue reading “Record Store Day 2024”

Yes, that is 1,300 Pez dispensers behind me.. Great to talk about community and employee ownership with Mark Masters and Rosie Sherry for the You Are The Media podcast earlier today. Rosie and I are on the bill for Creator Day at the Lighthouse in Poole next Thursday. I’m looking forward to sharing a coupleContinueContinue reading “You Are The Media podcast”

This month had a near single focus; organise and host two events to celebrate Grapevine’s first anniversary as an employee owned business, with just a few weeks notice. Against the odds, we welcomed 60 guests to our home at 19-25 Nuffield Road on Wednesday this week.   Since we made the transition to employee ownership inContinueContinue reading “Grapevine’s 1st EO anniversary”

Fresh from the two back-to-back events at Grapevine on Wednesday, Thursday saw the March edition of You Are The Media Lunch Club. This month’s host was Mo Humphries, who had already delivered a successful spring ’24 Business Futures session, which I attended earlier in March, and she did an equally great job of compèring bothContinueContinue reading “YATM Lunch Club March 2024”

This week our Star Wars fandom took us to an event a little closer to home than usual. The touring exhibit ‘May the Toys Be With You’ made its way to lovely Wimborne, where it has a residency at the Museum of East Dorset from til April 2024.  Having seen photos of the collection at previous stops,ContinueContinue reading “Star Wars memories from generations of fans”

20 years ago I started a record label. I bottled it within a year. I was a student at college and imposter syndrome (even if we didn’t know it to be called that then) kicked in just as things were starting to happen. It took me another 7 years to try again. Talking to BenContinueContinue reading “Ground Zero podcast with Ben Franklin”